1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of content and/or data delivery over a network. More particularly, the present invention is related in one exemplary aspect to apparatus and methods for distributing programming content, media, data and other information services via a rights-managed apparatus.
2. Description of Related Technology
Recent advances in digital information processing have made a whole range of services and functions available for delivery to consumers for very reasonable prices or subscription fees. These services and functions include digital programming (movies, etc.), digital video-on-demand (VOD), personal video recorder (PVR), Internet Protocol television (IPTV), digital media playback and recording, as well high-speed (broadband) internet access and IP-based telephony (e.g., VoIP).
Currently, many of these services are provided and delivered to the user via a wide variety of different equipment environments including, inter alia, cable modems, Wi-Fi hubs, Ethernet hubs, gateways, switches and routers, personal computers, laptop computers, servers, cable set-top boxes, PSTNs, cellular telephones/smartphones, PDAs, portable digital devices, miniature portable devices, etc. Additionally, the services associated with such technology are typically provided by multiple vendors including e.g., a cable service provider (e.g., MSO), cellular service provider (CSP), wireless service provider (WSP), VoIP service provider, music download service, Internet service provider (ISP), PSTN telephone service, etc.
The myriad of services, equipment and providers can easily create confusion and economic (and personal) inefficiency for someone using many of these services on a regular basis. In particular, a user may have to pay for each service or equipment separately, thus eliminating any economies of scale based on integration. For example, a cable network subscriber may have purchased access to certain content on his/her digital set top box (DSTB), but may not be able to view the same content on his or her personal computer from the Internet, or over their mobile phone or laptop.
Some improvements in digital service integration have been made over time. For example, cable system subscribers (such as those of the Assignee hereof) can now access VOD, PVR, PPV and broadcast (aka linear) services simultaneously, as well a Internet access via cable modem, and even digital telephony (e.g., VoIP). However, these functions are still substantially disparate in terms of their hardware and software environments (i.e., the user must have a cable modem, set-top box, VoIP telephony unit, PC, etc.), and “cross-over” between the environments (e.g., moving content or data from one environment to the other) can be quite limited.
Conditional access (CA) technologies are typically incorporated into content delivery networks, such technologies including the digital encoding of various types of data including audio and video programming and music. Conditional access can generally be defined as the control of when and how a user may view and use the associated programming or information. Different types of conditional access may be desirable in a network delivery system in order to, e.g., accommodate improvements in the technology over time, as well as different conditional access attributes such as security and category of programming or user access level.
A variety of traditional methods of conditional access exist including, e.g., “Powerkey”, NDS, and DigiCipher. A generalized conditional access model is also provided by the well-known DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) Specification TS 101 197 V1.2.1 (02/02), DVB SimulCrypt; Part 1: “Head-end architecture and synchronization”, and TS 103 197 V1.2.1 (02/02): “Head-end Implementation of SimulCrypt”, each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. These can be implemented using, for example, the so-called “CableCard” plug-in security module access technology (also known as “a point-of-deployment (POD) module”). See, e.g., the CableCard-Host interface specification, which defines the interface between a digital cable receiver or STB (Host device) and the CableCard device provided by the MSO/cable operator. Specifically, the CableCard contains conditional access functionality, as well as the capability of converting messages to a common format. Thus, the CableCard provides a cable operator with a secure device at the subscriber premises, and acts as a translator so that the host device needs to understand a single protocol, regardless of the type of the network to which it is connected.
However, conditional access (CA) paradigms currently in use are quite restricted, and not generally extensible beyond the user's set-top box, thus only support provision of content to a user at a single device. So, for example, the user would be prohibited from accessing content via the cable modem (e.g., streamed or downloaded content to their Wi-Fi enabled laptop or PC) which he/she would otherwise be entitled to via a set-top-box, since proper conditional access support does not exist in these heterogeneous device environments.
Thus, improved apparatus and methods for providing content across multiple, often different platforms to a user are needed. Such improved apparatus and services would ideally provide users with a set of rights to content, the rights being accessible in any number of diverse devices, thereby simplifying user access to the services, and allowing for substantially “unrestricted” access across multiple platforms. For example, the user or subscriber would be provided with a media device wherein access to content, whether via an MSO or a third party (including for example an Internet host server), would be readily available to the subscriber, subject to any authentication or subscription restrictions. The improved apparatus and methods also advantageously exploit the concept that a particular content identification is tied to the user (as opposed to a device). Hence, a user may be given a domain of content and a domain of devices which may consume the given content.